Lukaku: Everton players convinced Martinez to go direct

The Merseyside club have endured a miserable run of form in the Premier League and four straight defeats have seen them fall to 13th in the table.

A fifth consecutive loss appeared on the cards in Tuesday's FA Cup tie with West Ham at Goodison Park until Lukaku scored an injury-time leveller to force a 1-1 draw and a replay.

Belgium international Lukaku believes the goal and the improved performance came as a result of a tactical switch that is more suited to his physical attributes, as opposed to Martinez's preferred option of possession football.

"The players were asking about going more direct," he said. "I asked them, and we all said to the manager 'can we play a bit more direct sometimes?'

"We have a style of play where we keep the ball a lot, but knew we needed to take more responsibility, play to my strengths more, and they did it perfectly.

"We mixed up how we played a bit more, at times we were a bit more direct. For me that makes it easier, because when I am one on one, running at a defender, that gives me a better chance."

Lukaku had previously gone six matches without a goal and was only among the substitutes in losses to Newcastle United and Hull City.

And the 21-year-old is keen to push on after ending his barren run.

"After two games on the bench I knew it was time to react," he added. "I wanted to show the manager how he can count on me.

"I wanted to show it was just a temporary thing, and now I am ready to move on and push myself to the limit. I want to win silverware, I want to end up as high as we can in the league and we have five months to do that.